When to use SDR

The Stanford Digital Repository offers services that are quite distinct from other content management and digital storage services available to members of the Stanford community, such as Box.com, Google Docs, or other ITS storage services.

While these other services are optimized for storing and collaborating on content while it is being created, SDR supports deposit of "finished" content for long-term, persistent access by scholars.

More specifically, the SDR:

is unencumbered by commercial interests or proprietary systems;

is an appropriate solution for data, documents, and other files of enduring value to the University or to other researchers;

supports version management -- necessary changes in digital objects are tracked, and earlier versions are maintained -- because even "finished" works sometimes need to be updated;

provides stable access to your digital content via a persistent URL;

maintains preservation copies it in a secure, managed storage environment;

offers two levels of content access: open to the public or restricted to Stanford affiliates (group-level restrictions is a future development).